I think Malacandra has synthesized the game of Rugby Union well. I played American Football in High School and Rugby for 10 years through University and afterwars for a US club side. When trying to explain the difference between Football players and Rugby players I like to use a medical analogy. Rugby players are to General Practitioners as Football payers are to specialized surgeons.
In American Football, although certain basic characteristics are desirable in all players – speed, quickness, intelligence, toughness – the skill sets needed to play different positions do not overlap that much. What an interior lineman does is very different from what a tight end does which is different from a receiver to the full back to the halfback to the quarterback. And that’s just on offense.
In Rugby, by contrast, there is a basic breakdown in duties for forwards and backs – forwards handle set plays while backs are responsible for advancing the ball – there is a broader set of skills that all players must share. In the course of an average rugby match, all players will handle the ball, all players will have to pass the ball, all will have to ruck and present the ball and all will at some point have to make a tackle.
The OP is an interesting one but one that I think is subjective. In the end, IMHO, the “gruelingness” of a sport depends on so many different factors including injuries and training that comparing them is difficult. Jerry Rice, for instance, loved training, was always in shape, rarely hurt and in his 20+ years of playing organized football probably never found it grueling. Conrad Dobler or the family of Mike Webster might have a different opinion (I did see the piece on HBO). The principal thing I took from the HBO piece, though, was that players now disabled wouldn’t change what the game asked of them in the past. Rather they want the game and the union to provide them more now in the way of pensions and benefits, especially medical care. I think they’re entitled to that. One player (I don’t recall who) pointed out that although the NFL does not consider him disabled, the federal government does for which he receives support through Social Security.
American Football, in my mind, leaves the greatest number of permanent cripples of any sport on any continent. That is because a premium is paid to sheer size and the body is used as a weapon. There is only one place in the modern game for the small and that’s at kicker, the most specialized position of all. Human joints can’t handle the speed and size of today’s players and I don’t see things changing any time soon. It is an issue the NFL will have to deal with eventually.
Rugby, by contrast has a place for smaller players – although bigger is better – and does more to protect the individual, especially from injuries to joints, than american football. That’s not to say rugby is any less grueling. I found myself less tired after playing a 48-minute football game in high school at offensive guard than I did playing an 80-minute rugby match in college where I had to set in at prop 30 or 50 times (not uncommon when players are inexperienced).
In a recent interview, Bryan O’Driscoll, captain for Ireland and Leicester, mentioned that his new contract limits him to about 25 games a year. I’m not certain that includes games with the national team or not, but it seems an awful lot either way. If it doesn’t he might play as many as 40 during the course of a year. I would add that few players in any professional sport play a whole season or, to be more exact, in every possible game or match they’re eligible for. Most are injured or rested or scratched at some point during a long season.
I wasn’t a very good football player in high school, so I didn’t play very much and really didn’t get injured. I played rugby between ages 20 and 30 and matured into a respectable player. In those 10 years, I broke my nose twice, a wrist, both thumbs and twisted both ankles innumerable times. I was probably concussed twice. Today, 12 years later, my mind is fine, but I have arthritis in both ankles and my knees creak and hurt in the morning but are otherwise okay. I love the game of rugby and feel lucky I played. I wouldn’t change the time I played for anything. It was tough, but not grueling.
) and as a rule replacements are permanent. Minor injuries that are fixable off-field - typically surface bleeding - allow for a temporary replacement while repairs are under way. If a key player has been sin-binned then another player may be temporarily substituted - usually if a front-row forward has been sent off, as the sharp end of a scrum is physically hazardous if you don’t have the special training. Otherwise, everyone’s on for the full 80 minutes, attack, defend or whatever.